8 Palestinians Killed, Media Mostly Silent

["M. Junaid Alam" <redjaguar@xxxxxxxxx>]

No front page treatment or 'news alerts' for this latest murder. After I
found this article on BBC, in the last 24 hours I have not seen a single
mention of it in CNN, I saw it footnoted in some secondary NYTimes article,
and I saw it mentioned in one MSNBC article, the main focus of which was the
angry rhetoric of Hamas.
==========
Thursday, 17 October, 2002, 18:22 GMT 19:22 UK
Palestinians killed by Israeli tank fire

Eight Palestinians have been killed and 40 others injured when Israeli tanks
opened fire in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical staff say.
The dead include a nine year-old girl and a seventy-two year-old man in the
incident, whose circumstances are hotly disputed by the two sides.

"Israeli tanks fired shells against the houses of people in Rafah refugee
camp," said Ali Moussa, director of the hospital in Rafah.

But the Israelis say that they were shot at by Palestinian militants with
anti-tank weapons and returned fire.

Captain Sharon Feingold said: "This is another case of Palestinian
terrorists using the civilian population to hide behind and conduct
terrorist activity."

Frequent clashes

The Palestinian leadership, in a statement, condemned "this new massacre by
Israeli tank shells against a refugee school and houses in Rafah" and called
for the international community to intervene and send observers.

The killings come just a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held
talks in Washington with US President George Bush, who recently asked the
Israeli premier to curb the high number of Palestinian civilians killed by
Israeli forces.



The incident happened when Israeli troops were putting up a new lookout
tower, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Palestinian youths threw stones and bottles, while militants fired on the
troops, Palestinian witnesses said.

Palestinians frequently clash with Israeli troops frequently in Rafah - a
militant stronghold.

The Israelis say their troops often come under Palestinian fire, while
Palestinians accuse Israeli soldiers of firing indiscriminately and
frequently hitting civilians.

At least six people, most of them children, were killed by Israeli forces in
Rafah last week, during Israeli incursions.

Rabin anniversary

Meanwhile Israelis have been marking the seventh anniversary of the
assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Although Rabin was killed on 4 November 1995, according to the Jewish
calendar the anniversary falls on Thursday.

Numerous memorial ceremonies were being held around the country, but the
main ceremony took place at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, where Rabin
is buried.

At an event to mark the beginning of the anniversary, President Moshe
Katsav, describing the assassination, said: "The worst thing possible
happened. We have to learn the lesson well, commit it to memory."

Rabin was shot dead by a right-wing Jewish extremist, infuriated with him
for having signed the 1993 Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians


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